Nicole Scherzinger has shared details of her final text exchange with Liam Payne on the day of his death. The 47-year-old singer and actress, who mentored One Direction on The X Factor, said the messages were 'chit-chat and pretty light'.
Payne died at 31 after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires in October 2024. A post-mortem found he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Scherzinger learned of his death just before performing in Sunset Boulevard on Broadway.
Speaking to The Times, Scherzinger said: 'I just adored Liam. He had such a good heart.' She dedicated a part of her nightly performance to him, saying: 'From then on, I dedicated a little part of the show to Liam every night. Just a little moment that always made me think of him.'
The pair had recently worked together on the Netflix series Building the Band, filmed weeks before his death. Scherzinger told People magazine: 'Liam is such a kind and beautiful heart, and selfishly I'm glad that I got to spend my time with him.'
She added: 'I know how proud he was of this show, and I know the joy that he got from doing this. I feel like we are honouring him with this show.'
